Coaster



Aug. 23, 1966 .J. B. SWETT 3,268,198

GOASTER Filed April 27, 1964 22 F I 4 INVENTOR. JAMES B. SWETT ATTORN EYUnited States Patent 3,268,198 COASTER James B. Swett, Barrington, R.I.,assignor to Rexall Drug and Chemical Company, Los Angeles, Calif, acorporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 362,793 1 Claim.(Cl. 248346.1)

This invention relates to coasters for use in combination with drinkingtumblers or the like to prevent the marking of finished surfaces such astables upon which the tumblers normally come in contact. Moreparticularly this invention relates to coasters which have easilyseparable top and bottom portions and having an intermediate moisturereceiving member held therebetween. The moisture receiving member servesto absorb drippings from the tumbler so that the surface of the coasterdoes not remain wet and the specific coaster construction is so arrangedso that the coaster will not adhere to the bottom of its associatedtumbler when the tumbler is elevated.

When iced drinks or the like are served in glasses or tumblers,particularly in humid weather, the moisture in the air tends to condenseand accumulate on the outside surface of the glass or tumbler and rolldown on to the supporting surface. The supporting surface thus becomeswet and its finish marred if such is susceptible to water marks and thelike. 7

Not only will moisture from the air condense upon the outer surfaces ofthe cold tumbler but in those cases where the coaster itself is made ofa heat conductive material the water from the atmosphere will then formupon the outside surfaces of the coaster itself and present thisadditional problem. It is thus desirable that the material from whichthe coaster is constructed and particularly those portions of thecoaster which contact the tumbler be of an insulating plastic such aspolyethylene and the like.

In light of the above problems associated with the serving of coldbeverages it has become customary to provide coasters upon which adrinking tumbler can be placed with the idea that the drippings would becaught by the coaster and thus would not mar the furniture upon whichthe coaster and the tumbler were placed. Thus many coaster structuresbased upon this idea have been formu lated and placed upon the market.These known coaster structures however have all had one or moreobjectionable features. Thus the standard cup type coaster formed ofwood, metal, plastic or the like is objectionable in that the condensatefrom the external surface of the tumbler drips into the coaster andforms a pool therein so that the drinking tumbler actually rests in apool of water. With coaster of this type when the tumbler is lifted,drippings from the glass fall on the supporting surface and/ or on theusers clothing.

Many other types of coasters utilize a construction in which a moistureabsorbent material comes in direct contact with the bottom of thetumbler. These have the objectionable feature that when the tumbler iselevated the coaster will tend to stick to the bottom of the tumbler andis almost certain to become dislodged therefrom at an unknown andgenerally annoying instant. Thus the user of this type coaster oftenfinds himself in the position of having a glass in hand and a coaster onlap.

A still further type of coaster construction utilizes a one piece memberhaving a slit in the side thereof for receipt of a moisture absorbentmaterial such as a disc of cloth or blotting paper. In this typeconstruction the bottom of the tumbler rests upon a portion of thecoaster iself and it is thus maintained out of contact from the waterabsorbent member which obviates some of the above mentioneddifiiculties. These coasters however, necessarily must have an openingfor receipt and removal of the water absorbent disc or the like and thusthe likelihood of a 3 ,2 6 8,1 9 8 Patented August 23,. 1 966 wickingaction and resultant dripping. A further difliculty with this typeconstruction is that the absorbent member must be slipped in and out ofits receiving slot which may become a chore if the water absorbentmember becomes bent, warped or swollen especially if the slot and discare made to approximate equal thickness so as to assure retention of thedisc in the slot.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide a coaster which obviates the objectionablequalities of the prior art coasters above discussed. It is also anobject of the invention to provide a coaster which will quickly absorbany moisture on its surface and which coaster will not adhere to atumbler bottom so that the tumbler may be separately elevated while thecoaster remains upon the supporting surface. A still further object ofthe present invention is to provide a coaster having top and bottommembers which are easily inter-engaged with each other and form betweentheir respective bottom portions, a chamber for use in retaining amoisture absorbent disc.

These and other objects of the invention which will be set forth in moredetail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the artupon reading the following description. The nature of the invention willbe more clearly understood by reference to the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawing, references made to theaccompanying drawings forming a part thereof in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded view of the coaster of the present invention andshowing the interrelationship of its three component parts;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the assembled coaster;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the coaster; and

FIGURE 4 is a side view thereof taken along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

Briefly the coaster of the present invention is composed of threeseparable members which are adapted to inter-engage with each other toprovide a bottom supporting member, and intermediate water receiving andabsorbing member and a top member which is so constructed so as topermit the water to pass from the walls of the tumbler or the like intosaid water receiving member and to additionally serve to space thebottom of the tumbler from said water receiving member. The componentparts are easily separable from each other so that each may be readilywashed and so that the water absorbent member may be removed with ease.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, the coaster is shown asbeing of round configuration although it is to be understood that thisis an exemplary shape only and that the coaster may generally have anyoverall shape desired. Thus the assembled coaster 10 as shown in theexploded view shown in FIGURE 1 of the drawing is composed of a bottomsupporting member 12, a moisture absorbent member 14 and a top tumblerreceiving member 16. The bottom supporting member 12 is generally cupshaped and is provided with an imperforate bottom wall 18. Surroundingthis bottom wall 18 is an annular side wall 20 which outwardly extendsthere-around and terminates in a smooth edge the-reabove. The undersideof the bottom wall 18 is further provided with raised rings 22 and 24upon which the completed coaster structure is adapted to rest. The sidewall 20 thereof is further provided with a downwardly extending annularrecessed portion 26, which recess portion facilitates the receipt of thetop member in a manner which will hereinafter be more clearly broughtout.

The top tumbler receiving member 16 is also generally of cup shapedconfiguration and is provided with a bottom wall 28. An annular sidewall 30 surrounds the bottom wall 28 and extends upwardly therefrom. Theside wall 30 is provided with a horizontally extending wall portion 32which serves as a connecting wall between the aforementioned side wall30 and a downwardly extending outer side wall 34 connected thereto. Thusthe side wall of the top tumbler receiving member 16 presents theconfiguration of a downwardly opening U-shaped lip. This lip is adaptedto receive the recessed terminus 26 of the annular side wall 20 of thebottom member 12. The manner of their connection is best shown by FIGURE4 of the drawing wherein it can be clearly seen that the terminus of thedownwardly extending side wall 34 abuts against the shoulder formed inthe side wall 20 by the recess 26. In this manner then the top andbottom members can be easily separated from each other merely byinserting ones finger nail underneath the downwardly extending side wall34 and upwardly removing the top member therefrom. Also, thelongitudinal extent of the annular side wall 30 'is less than that ofthe side wall 20 so that when the top and bottom members are engaged asshown in FIGURE '4, a small chamber is formed between the respectivemember bottoms 18 and 28. This small chamber 29 receives the waterabsorbent disc or member 14.

Other means for spacing the respective bottom mem bers could be utilizedsuch as a peripheral raised ring downwardly extending from the underside of bottom wall 18. In such an embodiment the top tumbler receivingmember can be inserted into the bottom member by means of a frictionalfit, thus obviating the necessity of the downwardly opening U-shapedlip. Such lip does however provide convenient means whereby the desiredmember spacing is facilitated and therefore the structure as shown inthe drawings is preferred.

The upper portion of the bottom wall 28 is further provided with araised annular central boss 36 and raised ribs 38 radiating therefrom.The ribs 38 thus as can be seen clearly from FIGURE 2 of the drawing,divide the bottom wall 28 into a plurality of sectors 40. Each sector isfurther provided with a plurality of opening 42. Alternately, thematerial forming the segments 40 and that surrounded by boss 36 may bealtogether removed and present a bottom wall 28 having completely opensectors 'for transmission of the condensed moisture upon the walls of atumbler through the bottom wall 28 and into the water receiving member14. The raised boss and its radiating ribs thus form a surface upwardlyspaced from the bottom wall 28 upon which the bottom of a tumbler mayrest. In this way then the bottom of the tumbler does not directlycontact the bottom wall 28 and the opening 42 therethrough thuspermitting the free flow of condensed moisture through the bottom wall.

"on the surface of the tumbler receiving member to be transferred to thebottom of the tumbler and in this manner dripping therefrom isprevented. The moisture passed through the openings into the chamber 29is absorbed by the member 14 and thus is held from flowing back throughthe openings if the coaster is accidentally overturned. When the userdesires to remove the moisture accumulated in the chamber 29 andabsorbed by the member 14 it is a simple matter to peel off the topmember, remove the member 14, and squeeze the water therefrom prior toreplacing the member in the chamber.

The coaster of the present invention is preferably made of a yieldingplastic material such as polyethylene and may be provided incomplementary top and bottom colored portions. 'Plastic materialssuitable for the preferably foam moisture absorbing member 14 compriseamong others, polyurethane and polystyrene. Foam rubber materials mayalso be utilized.

In view of the foregoing disclosure, variations and modificationsthereof will be apparent, and it is intended to inelude within theinvention all such variations and modifications which fall within thescope of the pending claim.

I claim:

A coaster for tumblers and the like comprising a top tumbler receivingmember, a bottom member and a moisture receiving member; said bottommember having an imperforate bottom wall and an upwardly extendingannular side wall, the outer surface of said bottom member side wallprovided with an annular recess downwardly ex tending from the upperterminus thereof, said recess terminating in an outwardly directed sidewall shoulder, said top tumbler receiving member having a perforatebottom wall and an upwardly extending annular side wall terminating in adownwardly opening U-shaped lip for receipt of the upper terminus ofsaid bottom member side wall wherein the lower terminus of said U-shapedlip abuts said side wall shoulder and in part extends lateral- 1youtwardly of said shoulder for ease in fingernail engagement thereof andso as to space said bottom walls apart thus forming an intermediatechamber for receipt of said moisture receiving member whereby moisturefrom 'the tumbler is collected by said top member and passes throughsaid openings to said moisture receiving member and wherein the bottomwall of said top member is provided with a raised annular centrallydisposed boss and raised ribs radiating therefrom for contacting receiptof a tumbler bottom, said rib serving to divide said bottom wall intosegments each of which being provided with 'openings therethrough.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,981,627 11/1934 Merriman 248346 2,221,177 11/ 1940 Berenson et al. 22042 2,496,1571/1950 Gaudino 248-3461 2,606,586 8/1952 Hill 0.5 2,606,708 8/1952 Irvan22042 2,638,261 5/1953 Poole 2295.5 2,641,911 6/1953 Raymond et al.248346.1 2,688,858 9/ 1954 Cosmetto 24'8346.1 2,790,576 4/ 1957 Lawrence220-42 2,893,163 7/1959 Hazel 248-3461 3,032,939 5/ 1962 Andersen 22042FOREIGN PATENTS 1,115,331 12/1955 France.

81,276 5/1895 Germany. 542,788 1/1942 Great Britain. 714,850 9/1954Great Britain.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Examiner.

